Together Isaac and Oran walk into the entrance of Driftwood Shore, this is where it at all started for Oran. Isaac looks around just curious to see what is lurking every corner and every building while Oran checks every corner around feeling as if nothing changed. His home was still standing as they crossed the covered bridge and it was in Oran’s name, due to him buying it. They stood outside the door and Oran pulled a key from his pocket. Quickly, he placed the key in the keyhole and turned it then the knob to open the door. He pulled the key out and held the door open for Isaac who entered the home immediately.

“It smells like a museum inside here.” Isaac crinkles his nose at the unexpected smell and realizes all the dust around them. Everything inside had a thin layer of dust which meant he had at least visited to clean at some point. “When was the last time you were here?”

“Been a couple months. I generally don’t come here while you’re awake since this is a place I didn’t think you were ready for yet.” Oran explained to him without really elaborating on what he meant. This was the time for young Isaac to ask questions away from the Guild and help himself to the knowledge that Oran had.

Isaac stands there with a slight bit of confusion on his face. Not ready for what? It’s a shoreline village. He thought to himself as he stood before a large case covered with a white sheet. “Do you mind if I look?”

“Go for it.” A smirk on his face as he watched Isaac pull the cover off. He was right to a degree that this was a museum but it was more of a storage facility. He was the only one with a key and the building was protected.

Standing back Oran watched as the covering was laid on the floor. Isaac reaches out in surprise to see a sword sitting on the inside of the glass case. As he stared at it, he remembered the imagery from the books at the Guild. “This sword. I know this sword.”

“I thought you might. That is the Anger of Eons. The fabled sword of legends that Ren kept for however long he had it.” Oran walks over to the second case next to it and removes the covering. “I have its opposite as well, Eternity's Tears.”

“How did you get these?” Isaac says excitedly as he reaches back out to the glass. He wanted nothing more than to touch these blades but figured Oran might not let him go that far with the sword of his enemy. “Can I hold it?”

“Just be careful. It isn’t...friendly, after being used by Ren for so long and it might bite. Believe me when I say this, that blade will not resonate with you due to its dark nature.” Oran stated as a well intentioned warning to Isaac.

“I’ll be careful.” He opens the case and pulls the sword out with both hands gently. He holds the long hilted sword in his right hand and realizes how light it is even in comparison to his own. As he twirls it around in his hand and holds it close to look at it, a darkness seems to radiate from the blade. A band of red forms around Isaac’s hand from the hilt to wrap his hand to the sword.

Oran still stands at the ready but isn’t worried one bit due to his trust in Isaac. He believes in the light inside of Isaac and this was a good test for him to show that trust in his internal light. Isaac shouts in surprise as the wrap gets tighter on his hand suddenly.

Within his mind Isaac hears a voice, ”Kill him with the blade and make it stronger or I’ll drain your life force from you.”

“Who is talking to me?”

“All that remains of Ren Raiju. Kill Verdell and amplify the power of his sword. He’s right there and there is no way for the sword to be stopped by him.”

“Nope. That’s enough of this.” Isaac says audibly to see Oran chuckling to himself. “You were right, this doesn’t resonate with me at all.”

“Wanted you to kill me right?” Isaac nods his head in agreement as Oran continues to laugh. “Yeah, sounds about right. Tried to get me to take myself out, one day. We see how well that went.”

“Is the sword sentient?”

Oran shakes his head, “Not at all. It’s just the leftover energy that Ren poured into it over the years he was wielding it. Remember how I said that your weapons will resonate with you as you pour power into them?”

“That my energy would make them more powerful? Yes. I recall that lesson from like an hour ago.” He chuckled softly. “It was just today.”

“True enough. This blade...” Oran pointed at the Anger of Eons. “..is filled deeply with the malice and power of Ren. It’s something I could fix relatively quickly but since no one is using it or knows of its existence outside of us now, I just didn’t see a point. The energy will dissipate over time.”

“Wouldn’t you rather use them though?” Isaac questioned.

“If I need one, I can call on them directly.” Oran flipped his wrists towards Isaac. “You don't normally see these due to the jacket but each of these blades are bound to me.” He pointed to the mark on his right arm. “Anger of Eons.” He then pointed to the one on his left. “Eternity’s Tears.”

“What’s the second one on your arms?”

“This one on my left is the sword I used during the time with my Master; The Spirit Sword even though now it has evolved into a different sword through training. This one is tied with the word spirit. The one on my right arm is the main weapon I use here. The same one you saw in the vision of the fight with Ren.”

“How do they work?” He asks in confusion.

“These marks are on my body and on the swords. We’re just linked together through energy and sigils. Now, I could always just pull one to me through force of will but there are times your power might not be accessible or blocked. The sigils on arms bypass the need for that connection since the connection is always available.”

Isaac nods his head as he listens and decides immediately; he needs a sigil. “I think I need one of those for my blade.”

Oran shakes his head from side to side. “I will not mark you without parental permission. As you are currently underage, I’ll need you to talk to your father.”

“If he says yes?” He asks quickly.

“Then I’ll have no qualms binding that sword to you.”

With an excited nod, Isaac covers the blades up with a nearby sheet. “Where to now, Oran?”

“Back to the bridge for a moment.”

“Are we leaving?” He asked with his head tilted. “We just got here.”

“Not yet. We’re actually staying here tonight. I’m just giving you a tour of my home and letting you in on more of my past. I need for you to know there are no secrets between us as a teacher and student. At least my secrets. I can’t reveal my Master’s secrets of which he had many.” Oran explained to him quickly as they began walking back to the bridge.

“Why is the knowledge of your Master so secretive?”

“I’ve spent the last couple years trying to move beyond him. Not in terms of power but beyond his ideals and his allegiances. There are some negative energies I don’t plan to associate myself with.” With a deep sigh from just thinking about it, Oran continues on their path to the bridge. “The method of training is effective, as you can see with me, with many years of experience he had a lot to pass on to his students. Not everything in our lives will always be so clean cut into black and white. For me, it’s easily cut into negative and positive. If something feels negative to me I don’t associate with it. If it’s positive, like with us, I fully embrace it.”

“What was so negative about the people he associated with?” Isaac asks just listening to Oran talk about his past like it was just yesterday. “What happened?”

“Nothing extreme, Isaac. People just get anxious and nervous when a much younger person shows up and is beyond their scope of power. Fear of the unknown makes people react in different ways. Embrace it or fall victim to your fear. I’m sure they thought he was playing favorites with his children and myself, I think I’m the youngest. I picked up the training easily and kept pushing to build myself up. I had to keep going. I had a plan.” Oran explained.

“A plan?” Isaac shook his head with a sigh. “A plan for you is scary.”

“True.” Oran said with a laugh. He felt this was a fair blow to take from him. It was definitely true since most of his plans ended up being completed by improvising. “I just remembered that I said I’d go back tonight but then told you were staying the night.”

“See? You can’t even keep to simple plans.” Isaac laughed joyously as he stood by his mentor. “What are we going to do?”

“Stay here. She’ll get so much more done without me and I can reach out to her at any moment to let her know. You deserve to have some time out of the guild and she’s making sure this relationship remains as important as it is.”

“I need that ability to talk to people.” Isaac replied, pondering how to do it himself. He knew the short range version and just assumed that it took more power to do long distance. He would just have to wait to test it out. “What was your plan by the way?”

“Take out Ren for good.” Oran replied, overlooking the area from the bridge. “He’s been a real nuisance to this world and beyond. After messing up my life and those of my family among the countless other; it was time to take him out.”

“Hopefully, he’ll stay gone but I’m sure you can handle him easily now.”

“Nothing with Ren is ever easy, Isaac. Whatever happens; I’ll handle him.” Oran said assuring him. He placed his left hand on Isaac’s right shoulder. “You know, I come out here and think about my family. I get this thought deep down like I forgot about something or someone. I just can’t place it like a chunk of my memory is just gone.”

“How does something like that happen, Oran? I feel like you mentioned memory problems recently as well.” Isaac replied with deep concern. “Does this happen frequently for you?”

He shakes his head from side to side. “Not really. Trauma does have an effect on your memory and that trauma was during my childhood. It’s possible I blocked out certain things or it's possible it was removed.”

“That’s just wrong…”

“Yeah, anyway though, to the pub for dinner. I’m also supposed to look for properties. I think the one across from the pub was for sale.” Oran added.

“I can go for food.” Isaac replied.

Together Oran and Isaac head back towards the pub to get some food before their late night training session. This was a perfect time to continue their bond of mentor and student. It was equally important to continue and strengthen their bond as friends as well. It was something Oran felt was necessary in his training style with him having more of a mentor father and student son relationship with his own master. He wanted this to be different.

Isaac was happy to accompany his mentor around his hometown and to learn more about his past. The strength and passion that he felt from Oran was one of the major things that he liked about his mentor. He was open about everything going on and if it wasn’t immediately before it was immediately after. He hoped that in the future he could grow to be like him in power but more important in strength of heart and passion.

As Oran and Isaac sit down at the bar for dinner and to hang out with the band of bandits who now occupy the city as traders; Eclipse along with Raziel cross through the waters leading up to Valerosa. The ocean becomes more of a bumpy ride as they sail along on the ship. A crew of minions and skeletal figures running the ropes and directing the ship. It was moving with no effort of the Moro brothers.

The ship comes into port and docks in an empty spot near the dockmaster’s building. The skeletons tie the ship to the dock and return under the ship’s deck as they wait for orders. Eclipse and Raziel exit down the gangway with their minions behind them. The dockmaster runs out and is immediately caught in a paralyzing gaze of Eclipse who keeps walking as one of their minions stabs him through the neck and leaves him there to bleed out.

“It’s been many years since I’ve been here.” Raziel says while looking around the port of Valerosa. “Verdell brought me here during training so I know the area.”

Eclipse pauses in his tracks and turns around to look at his brother. He grabs him by the collar of his shirt and lifts him up a few inches off the ground so they were eye to eye. “Leave the past here, brother. If you give into nostalgia and the comfortability of being around him like you once were; I’ll kill you myself.”

“There is nothing to worry about. We’re here to teach him a lesson and that lesson is don’t underestimate us.” Raziel replied by smacking Eclipse’s arm downward and getting out of his grasp. “I’ll handle him.”

“You’re not near his level. I’ll take care of him. You handle his apprentice if he has one. If not we’ll double team him.”

“Fine.” Raziel scoffs at his brother. “What about our friend?”

“In time, he needs one piece before he is ready to fight again. The recovery process is slow without the additional souls.”

“Then let us get this mask from Verdell.” Raziel adds.

As they walk off a loud thumping from inside the ship can be heard. A forceful knock on the wood below deck where the skeletons were sitting. The skeletons sit around a figure dressed in red with black armored leggings and forearm length gloves. The thumping was methodical as if it was a beating heart. The red eyes gleam inside of a hood tapping of four armored fingers begin a wave sound. The skeletons surrounding him begin tapping along with their bony fingers. A rhythmic tapping now loudly comes from inside the ship.

The march towards the guild began. It would be a slow steady march for the Moro brothers and a long wait for their ally in the ship. Only time would tell the outcome to this mission.

Entering Driftwood Shore, a darker skinned man with a shaved head stumbles through town looking as if he was drunk but he wasn’t; he was weak. His hands were shaking and he had a scared look on his face with widened eyes. He had seen something and came rushing as quickly as he could to get away from whatever it was he saw. The entire time he walked he just kept saying part of a word; Ver.

He stumbled deeper into town and across the bridge where he found himself falling into a door that was slightly open. The house just happened to belong to Oran Verdell. The case with the Anger of Eons was a glowing red aura of malice.

“Ver. Ver. Ver. Ver. Ver. Ver. Ver.” The man continued to repeat as he reached for the sheet and pulled it off. The Anger of Eons shining bright red and pulsating. “Ver.”

“Pick me up. Use my power to kill Verdell.”

“Verdell.” The man began being able to form full words as if he was regaining his wit and composure.

“Yes. Verdell. He’s in this town. Kill him and take me to the guild. Use the power in this blade to do my bidding!”

He reaches for the sword and grabs it. His eyes become narrowed and full of anger as he watches the sword change shape from the long sword type it was to a gladius design. The red blade returns to steel as the hilt becomes wrapped in black bandages.

Feeling a change in the energy around them, Oran gets up from his table where he was eating and generally hangs out, to see what is going on. He places his hands on one of the bandits' backs and leans over, ”Stern. Do me a favor for a minute and watch Isaac while I see what's going on out there?”

“What’s in it for me?” Stern asks.

“What do you want?”

“Three rounds of ale on you.” Stern says quickly and to the point.

“Deal.” Oran replied just as quickly.

Looking up from his bowl of soup, Isaac joins the conversation, ”Where are you going?”

“To check things out. Someone picked up a certain sword.” Oran stated as he narrowed his eyes on his house. His house wasn’t too far away from the pub itself. It was up the hill around the curve.

“I’ll come with you.” Isaac replied.

“Stay here. This blade is my responsibility.” He said with confidence before he exited the pub doors and shut them behind him. This was a safety precaution for the people inside of it who couldn’t handle the raw power. Oran’s energy covers his body in a deep green color instead of the bright green.

The man walks out of the home and sees Oran coming up the curved hill. “VERDELL!” He shouts as he begins charging in.

The battle had broken out with Oran blocking the attack with his bare hands. The energy flowing over his body as he simply blocks the attacks with ease. The sword had power but the user did not. However, that didn’t mean the person didn’t have potential and at this point Oran knew better than anyone what raw potential looked like.

“I don’t know if you can hear me, but you don’t have to fight me.” Oran shouted. “I can help you.”

“Don’t listen to him. You can have more power just by killing him.”

“You asked me to handle this; so let me handle it!” The man shouts at the blade which sends the malice fueled aura off the blade before it reformed around it. “Kill Verdell.”

“Interesting.” Oran says loudly. “This is a dark energy comparable to Isaac’s light.” He takes a deep breath, ”Sorry, but I think this might get rougher than planned.” It was way too soon for him to do this again but to get through to this person he was going to have to drain their power. The marks for Eternity’s Tear and his training sword light up on his arms as he calls them to his hand. He was going to dual wield his blades to force the person to break under the pressure and release Eons due to exhaustion.

The man charges forward once more and is blocked by an X of swords before him. Oran closes the blades on Eons and flips it out of the man’s hand and pushes him back with a hilt strike to the chest. As he slides backwards the sword comes back to his hand on its own as if it bonded with him. With a shake of his head, Oran begins his own onslaught. He swings both his blades in unison as the man struggles to block the dual swords coming at him. Sweat runs down his face as the speed picks up and the sword itself begins pulling his body on its own. It was trying to take control of the man's innate energy in the dark to do its bidding.

Oran pushed harder, picking his speed more and more as the battle went on. Suddenly the Anger of Eons lunges forward knocking the training sword from his hand. The blade lands on the roof of the pub causing them all to look up and Isaac to become concerned as they were all watching from the window.

A dark beam of red and black energy erupts from the stranger just like Isaacs, it was a beacon. He had broken through that wall that blocked his power as well. That put a look of seriousness on Oran’s face. Two people had unlocked their potential with him recently, something was definitely going on.

“That’s enough of this.” Oran returns the favor and knocks the sword out of the man’s hands and slings it behind him. It stops mid air and begins coming back to him. With a lunge of his right hand while dropping Eternity’s Tear to the ground, he grasps the man’s neck with an invisible force, attempting to just make him pass out. As he does this, he grabs Eon’s from the air as it slices through his left palm. His arm shakes as blood drips from the wound and his aura turns deep red with anger as he tries to redirect ownership back to himself. The red aura flows with the blood onto the ground. “Sorry.” Oran says once again as he lets the man down to the ground after he blacks out. “That sword hadn’t cut me in years. Something is off here…something is awful here is more like it.”

He lights the sword in a magical fire and cleansing energy from within. The blade stays in the gladius shape as if not wanting to return to its original form again. The sword remains red and black in color but has no energy left within it. He makes the three blades return to the guild, the library to be precise. Oran looks down at his slit palm and shakes his head. He knew something was going on and that something was going to happen. He runs his right hand over his left and the wound is gone as if it was never there. “That still hurts each time.”

As Oran cleans himself up, Isaac runs outside now that the battle is over and meets up with Oran. “Are you alright? I saw you get cut.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. This blade was feeding on his inner darkness. Where it had no effect on you due to your inner light. It had a controlling effect on him because of his inner darkness. Just remember that neither is inherently good or bad, Isaac. It’s how you use them that matters most.”

“Right. I will.” Isaac looked at the man on the ground. “He put up a good fight for a teenager.”

“I didn’t even realize he was a teenager until you pointed it out. I was too focused on the sword itself. It kept trying to return to his hand.” Oran shrugged as he thought about it. This had to be a bad omen. “He looks your age now that I’m noticing.”

“What are you going to do with him?” Isaac asks with concern.

With another sigh, Oran sighs deeply, he wasn’t looking for another student at this time but he needed to do something. This person needed help controlling their power. “Train him…”

“Can you handle us both?” Isaac asked.

“Yes. I just didn’t want to over do it. However, this kid needs my help as a teacher but he needs your help as a person. I feel as if he needs a friend his age. What do you say Isaac?” Oran questioned him.

“I’m game, Oran. A training partner never hurts.” Isaac said with eagerness. “Maybe we can push each other in ways that you can’t. Hard to train against someone to get stronger when you can’t go all out without endangering everyone.”

“While true, the two of you could cause some damage on your own. I’ll definitely have to supervise.” Oran squats down beside the teenager and puts some healing energy into him to wake him up. “Are you alright?”

He scoots back in confusion as he looks around scared once more, ”Where am I? What happened?” He said through a strained throat. “Why does my throat hurt?”

“Driftwood Shore. You were manipulated by an ancient sword. I made you pass out from lack of air.” Oran replied quickly.

“You choked me?” The teenager responded with a sarcastic twinge in his voice.

“Yes.” Isaac added.

Oran shrugged,”Basically. It was either that or I put a bubble around your head and suffocated you, if you want to be choosy.”

“How about neither?” He retorted. “Y’all are weird.”

“Hey you were being manipulated by an ancient sword that you stole from my house.” Oran replied laughing. “If anything I’m protecting my home and property” He takes the kid’s hand and helps him up. “I don’t really care about theft; I’m just glad no one is too badly hurt. What do we call you?”

“You’re right and I apologize. My name is Lozkhad and I’m originally from Spire Light. I got lost in the woods and chased by shades. I was so scared I couldn’t remember what I was doing. Just remembered I was looking for a Ver…Verdell.” He looks up in realization. “You’re Oran Verdell. Oh my god! I’m so sorry!”

“No worries here Lozkhad. I’m just glad you weren’t injured.” He motions towards Isaac,”This is Isaac, he’s my student.”

“Nice to meet you, Lozkhad.” He says with a smile on his face.

“Student. That’s why I’m here, Master Verdell. My family sent me off to find you at the Guild but I got distracted by the shades. They think you can help me harness this outpouring of darkness within me.” Lozkhad states with a sincere look in his eyes. “Can you help me?”

“I had already decided to take you on before you woke up. Your power needs to be controlled so you can lead a life semi-normally. I know how hard it can be to stop a growing darkness without support from friends” He notices the look on his face and puts his hand on his right shoulder. “I know what it's like to be alone too.”

“Where would I go from here? I can’t return back home until I get control of this power.” Lozkhad said with a worried tone.

“You’ll go to the guild. There we can watch you and train you. I believe Isaac has an open bed in the dormitory.” Oran looks sto Isaac to see him nodding. “Then we have a bed for you. I’ll get you enrolled at the guild myself so you’ll have access to all the places that students do.”

“Let’s get you some food first.” Isaac announced to him excitedly. “I know for a fact that breaking the limit like you did drains your energy and by the looks of it you came in with minimum. I’ll take you to the pub where we can get you some food.”

Lozkhad looked down feeling humbled and worried he was imposing. He wasn’t from a rich family or even a well off family. His power always made him feel as if he was on top of things and even to the point of being exiled until he learned control. To lose so badly to someone and then be treated as an equal was something he had never experienced. It made him uneasy and nervous but he could tell that they believed exactly the words they had said to him. That they would help him. He takes a deep breath to try to regain his composure. “Thank you.”

“No problem at all!” Isaac replied quickly. “Come on.” He motions for him to come to the pub. “Oran, are you coming with us?”

“Go on ahead. I”ll catch up. I’m just going to clean up this area real quick. I don’t want blood left lying around town.” Oran stated calmly as he watched the two of them heading towards the pub. He noticed immediately that the blood he spilled was contaminated with the malice left behind by Ren in the sword. He places his hand above the blood and sets it ablaze with a purifying light. Purification was the easy part for him but he never wanted a power that would remove someone's entirety from existence. The malice was destroyed and the last thing he needed to do was figure out what weapon he was to give Lozkhad to train with.

The Anger of Eons was still in its gladius shape and the more he held it the more he realized that this would need to be the weapon for Lozkhad. Without training there was no way a wooden or training sword would be able to keep up with Isaac’s ancestral blade. He was going to need something just as legendary and just as sturdy until he was ready.

With a shake of his head, Oran headed back to the pub. Where he immediately bought the three rounds of ale for his friends in the pub for looking after Isaac. “I need two beds.” He asked the innkeeper in the pub.

“Just two? Don’t you have three in your party now?” He retorted.

“I don’t sleep much and I have a house up the road.” Oran said with a chuckle. “I just don’t have room in it currently for people to sleep. I think that’s about to change though, my friend.”

“How long do you need a room?”

“Just tonight. For the two boys.” He added and motioned towards them eating. “And the food bill.” He chuckled realizing that it was probably going to be a long night and he might have to get them back sooner than with a gate. I’ll let Lozkhad hold onto the sword when we get back to the guild.

The excitement was finally over and now they had a new student. Oran’s third student. His list of apprentices was growing and they were all soon to meet.